At Least Seven US Military Contracted Planes in One Day

At least seven planes on contract to the US military were refueled at Shannon Airport today. These were:

N710CK Bagram to Shannon (Kalitta Air)

N207AX Norfolk USA to Shannon on to Middle East (Omni Air)

N225AX Norfolk to Shannon on to Middle East (Omni Air)

N342AX Norfolk to Shannon on to Middle East (Omni Air)

N351AX Shannon to Bangor USA(Omni Air)

N477AX Norfolk to Shannon on to Middle East (Omni Air)

N819AX Cherry Point to Shannon on to Middle East (Omni Air)

It was hard to miss the Kallitta Air transport plane parked in the centre of the airport. Its a large Boeing 747 and it was on contract to the US military. Its total cargo capacity is 27,467 cubic feet (778.8 cubic metres), and its capable of carrying 248,600 pounds of cargo, approximately 124 tons of payload more than 4,970 nautical miles (9,200 km). It arrived at Shannon at about 1.34pm from Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. That's the same airbase that had a CIA torture centre in 2001 and 2002, where prisoners were tortured before there were sent on to Guantanamo for some further torture. Some prisoners did not make it to Guantanamo as they died as result of their torture at Bagram.

The other six were Omni Air planes, likely to be carrying up to 300 armed US troops each, totaling up to a possible 1,800 troops. Five of them were on their way to the Middle East and two were on their way back to the USA from the Middle East.

By any standards this is an national disgrace. The US military are making Shannon Airport their own - using it like a foreign military base WITHOUT the permission of the Irish people.